Urban physics : molecular approach to city texture analysis for controlling Urban Heat Island
Name
958279660-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
12.15 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
756c23cd271ec47933d4294a305ea5c5
Author(s)
Sobstyl, Jacob Michael
Advisor(s)
Franz-Josef Ulm.
Date Issued
2016
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
Defined as intensification of urban air temperatures when compared to their rural surroundings common to cause negative externalities ranging from imperiling human health and comfort to amplifying energy costs and air pollution, Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect has been known to pose a severe burden on the 4.2 billion of people living in cities. With urban population expected to magnify by 2.5 billion by 2050 at an average annual rate of 72 million, ability to control UHI would have consequences of prodigious magnitude. While many UHI mitigation solutions for existent cities have already been established, due to complex nature of urban infrastructure, general and simple to follow design guidelines for building more sustainable urban environments are still missing. Here, we show that with appositeness of statistical physics, we are able to quantify prevailing patterns in cities to a set of few design parameters, which are directly related to UHI. Furthermore, we demonstrate that UHI has the potential to reduce energy bill and depress greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), and therefore cannot be simply generalized into negative realms. As such this work offers a simple to use tool for policy makers and planners to help residents save money on their energy bills, while setting cities and states on the right path towards achieving their GHG targets.
Description
Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2016.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 126-135).
Subjects
Civil and Environmental Engineering.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Terms of Use
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